Site-Specific Performances

From the Press Release:

DATE: SATURDAY, JUNE 13 AND SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 6:30 PM
LOCATION: The performance will begin at the Chemistry Building, 930 North University Ave. (map)

Tracing moments from the history of dance at UM across ten decades and into the future, this unique site-specific dance performance gathers approximately 30 dancer/choreographers --alumni from several eras of dance at UM, joined by current UM dance majors--to create a tapestry of movement vignettes recalling images of dance at UM past and present. Linked by three buildings –one demolished, one standing and one imagined-- the performance will travel from Central Campus to North Campus. The performance will begin in the Chemistry Building, where the Barbour Gymnasium for Women stood from 1896 until it was torn down in 1977. This is where dance courses took place until the current Dance Building was erected in 1976 as an attachment to CCRB. Crossing North University, the performance will continue over the bridge that spans Washtenaw Avenue, and will echo some of the experiments of the 1960s and 1970s. An improvisational band of four live musicians will be directed by Aaron Gold. En route to the current Dance Building, the audience will pause to see a scene taking place below on Palmer Field, where women students first presented the Lantern Night performances in the early 1900s. The performance will then move to the Dance Building at the base of N. University Court, where they will see a variety of scenes of dance. Audience members will next board buses taking them to North Campus where the performance will conclude with a dance amidst the trees, and with a passing of the torch from one generation to the next. Evoking the Lantern Night performances from the earliest era of dance on campus, the performers will link the legacy of the past to a new future for dance on North Campus.

UM Professor of Dance Jessica Fogel, who will also be choreographing several scenes within the work, will direct the performance. The performance will feature choreography and performances by the following alumni, all living locally and nearby: Aimee Anderson, Noonie Anderson, Alana Barter, Jeanette Fischer, Carol Halsted, Holly Hobbs, Corinne Imberski, Sarah Martens, Anna McGarry, Michelle Millman, Barbara Neri, Linda Perry, Eva Powers, Erika Stowall, Beverly Robinson, and Jarel Waters.

Following the performance at approximately 8:30 PM on Saturday June 13th, there will be an Afterglow Reception for audience members in the Walgreen Drama Center, 1226 Murfin Ave. (map). At the Bentley, there will be a special exhibit tracing some of the history of dance at the UM, and highlighting the Bentley Historical Library’s dance collections. Tickets for the Afterglow Reception are $15 and should be purchased by June 1 at the MI League Box Office.